Data storage tape cartridges have been used for decades in the computer, audio, and video fields as a means for storing electronic files. The data storage tape cartridges continue to be a popular form of recording large volumes of information for subsequent retrieval and use, particularly in a library setting. Automated, data storage tape cartridge libraries provide access to vast amounts of electronic data by storing and managing data storage tape cartridges.
In a conventional, automated, data storage tape cartridge library system, an automation unit, such as a robotic arm or other mechanism, typically services a plurality of data storage tape cartridge locations. The automation unit selectively retrieves a data storage tape cartridge from one of the storage locations and loads the retrieved data storage tape cartridge into a designated tape drive. The tape drive reads data from or writes new data to the data storage tape cartridge. When the tape drive is finished with the data storage tape cartridge, the automation unit retrieves the data storage tape cartridge from the tape drive and returns the data storage tape cartridge to the assigned storage location. A host computing system typically communicates with the library controlling unit to control the operation of the automated cartridge library. In this way, a large number of data storage tape cartridges are automatically accessible by one or more tape drives.
To manipulate a data storage tape cartridge, the automation unit typically includes an interface, such as a gripper on a robotic arm, that engages the data storage tape cartridge and allows the automation unit to convey and manipulate the orientation of the data storage tape cartridge. Because the data storage tape cartridges must be positioned in a precise manner for the robotic arm to grasp and position them correctly, the data storage tape cartridges and the storage locations are constructed with exact dimensions. Accordingly, the data storage tape cartridges that the library system houses typically have substantially similar, if not identical, form factors in order to be properly received by the interface of the automation unit. Notably, during the life of a typical data storage tape cartridge within the library system, the data storage tape cartridge undergoes a plurality of connection and disconnection (i.e., insertion and removal) cycles with the one or more associated tape drives.
Although conventional, automated libraries provide access to vast amounts of information, the data storage tape cartridges do not allow for true random access of files stored on the data storage tape cartridges. In particular, a conventional data storage data tape cartridge consists of a tape, i.e., an elongated flexible medium having a magnetic recording layer, wound on one or more wheels or hubs. Data is recorded and retrieved by inserting the data storage tape cartridge within a tape drive and passing the recording medium in front of one or more read/write heads. The tape drives are usually streaming devices in which data is recorded in a serpentine fashion as the tape streams back and forth. In particular, the tape drive typically writes the data along a number of tracks that span the length of the medium. For this reason, data storage tape cartridges can be viewed as sequentially storing the data in a linear format.
The linear data storage format prevents true random access to individual files. In particular, a tape drive must scan through the entire length of the tape until the appropriate file mark is identified, thereby increasing the file retrieval time. Due to the lack of true random access to individual files stored within the data storage tape cartridges and the affinity for the pre-existing automated, data storage tape cartridge library systems, a need exists for a data storage cartridge configured to house and protect a random access storage medium and yet be compatible with conventional, automated, data storage tape cartridge library systems.
However, typical connections with many non-tape storage mediums are not configured to withstand a plurality of connection and disconnection cycles. For example, hard drives are typically electrically connected to other interfaces by sliding connection pins over the hard drive connection pads. Repeated sliding of the connection pins over the pads may eventually wear away the conductive plating on the pads and, thereby, gradually disintegrate the integrity of the electrical connection. Therefore, a need exists to form a selective electrical connection between a non-tape storage medium housed within a data storage cartridge and an associated cartridge drive capable of maintaining its integrity through a plurality of connection and disconnection cycles.